Volume 3, No.

11, November 2012

Journal of Global Research in Computer Science
REVIEW ARTICLE
Available Online at www.jgrcs.info

DESIGN OF COMPACT MULTIBAND MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNAS

K.S.Tamilselvan*1 S.MahendraKumar2 and K.Senthil Prakash3
1
Asst. Prof.(Sr.Gr.), and 2,3 Asst. Prof. Department of ECE
Velalar College of Engineering and Technology
Erode, Tamil Nadu, India.
kstamilselvan@gmail.com1, s.mahendrakumar@yahoo.com2, prasenrose@yahoo.co.in 3
Abstract Microstrip antennas have become a rapidly growing area of research. Their potential applications are limitless, because of their light
weight, compact size, and ease of manufacturing. One limitation is their inherently narrow bandwidth. However, recent studies and experiments have
found ways of overcoming this obstacle. Design and analysis of Compact Multiband Microstrip Patch Antennas are presented. The antenna is
suitable for use in hand-held or other mobile devices. This antenna has a smaller size, and can be built on a double-sided printed circuit board or
stamped from thin sheet metal, our aim is to design a patch antenna for frequency ranges starting from 900 MHz to 5.35 GHz which includes the
GSM (880-960) GPS (1568-1592 MHz), DCS (1710-1880 MHz), and PCS (1850-1990 MHz). UMTS (1920-2170 MHz), IEEE 802.11 b/g (2400-
2484) and WLAN IEEE 802.11a band (5.15-5.35) in order to meet the demand for newer microwave and millimeter-wave systems and emerging
telecommunication challenges with respect to size, performance and cost of an antenna. It offers the advantages of light weight, low cost and ease of
fabrication. Design of compact multiband microstrip patch antenna includes the analysis of antenna parameters such as Bandwidth, Gain and
Directivity which are related to antenna dimensions and their substrate Material parameters. Further we extend our investigations on various methods
of improving the bandwidth and gain of the antenna which is used for mobile communication.

personal communications handsets fosters development of

INTRODUCTION
Communications has become the key to momentous changes in
the organization of businesses and industries as they
themselves adjust to the shift to an information economy.
Information is indeed the lifeblood of modern economies and
antennas provide mother earth a solution to a wireless
communication system. The radio antenna is an essential
component in any radio system. An antenna is a device that
provides a means for radiating or receiving radio waves. In
other words, it provides a transition from guided waves on a
transmission line to a free space wave (and vice versa in the
receiving case). Thus information can be transferred between
different locations without any intervening structure.
Furthermore, antennas are required in situations where it is
impossible, impractical or uneconomical to provide guiding
structures between the transmitter and the receiver.
Since the dawn of civilization, communication has been of
foremost importance to mankind. In first place, communication
was accomplished by sound trough voice. However, as the
distance of communication increased, numerous devices were
introduced, such as horns, drums, and so forth. The radio
antenna is a primary component in all radio systems. It may be
defined as the structure associated with the region of transition
between a guided wave and a free space wave, or vice versa. In
other words, radio antennas couple electromagnetic energy
from one medium (space) to another (e.g. wire, coaxial cable,
or wave guide). Micro strip antennas appeared as a by-product
of micro strip circuits, which by then had become a mature
technology. Their design and realization took advantage of the
techniques developed for micro strip circuits and used micro
strip circuit substrates. The increasing demand of multiband
small-size [8] integrated multiband antennas. The preferred
solutions are usually metallic patches with multiple resonances.
These patches allow a great flexibility in the antenna design, as
they are costeffective and straight forward to produce, as well
as easy to adapt to the shape of the handset.
The demand for high performance multi-standard
communication handsets has led to the research and studies of
this interesting topic. Therefore, it is important to study the
basic concepts of multiband antenna systems, a system that
brings the world of wireless communication to a new era. The
first leap to understanding multiband microstrip patch antenna
systems lead to the fundamental studies on antenna theory and
their design parameters. Laying a good foundation is essential,
as we will go through examining the multiband antenna
system. The radiation patterns and input return loss of the
multiband microstrip patch antennas at different resonant
frequencies will have to be investigated and thus, further
research will be carried out to bring a better insight by
simulation methods. The area of study will conclude with
analysis on simulations for the multiband microstrip antenna
system.
An antenna is a device that provides a means for radiating or
receiving radio waves. In other words, it provides a transition
from guided waves on a transmission line to a free space
wave (and vice versa in the receiving case). Thus information
can be transferred between different locations without any
intervening structure. Furthermore, antennas are required in
situations where it is impossible, impractical or uneconomical
to provide guiding structures between the transmitter and the
receiver.

JGRCS 2010, All Rights Reserved 9

 K.S.Tamilselvan et al, Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 3 (11), November 2012, 9-15
Antennas are acting as a transducer which is converting
electrical signal (current) in to electromagnetic waves and
radiating in to free space. Similarly when an electromagnetic
wave is hitting on the antenna, voltages and currents are
induced. The RF voltage induced are then passed into the
receiver and converted back into the transmitting RF
information.
Microstrip patch antennas have been largely used in a lot of
useful applications, because of their inherent characteristics of
low cost, low profile, ease of fabrication, light, weight,
conformability and integration with RF devices. The new
cellular telephone generations integrate several
communications systems at once such as GSM/DCS, Wi-Fi
standards, UMTSetc, [2] which leads to a large need of a
multi frequency microstrip patch antennas.
Several patch designs with single-feed, dual-frequency
operation have been proposed recently. Designed tri-band
microstrip antenna can be used in various commercial systems
such as; Digital Cellular System (DCS) at 900MHz, Automatic
Toll Collection at 905 MHz and Wireless Local Area Networks
around 2.4 GHz. In this paper, microstrip antenna is considered
as a candidate for multi-band operation. After designing an
antenna for 900 MHz it was seen that we can excite some
modes with proper feeding of the antenna. Patch antenna is
designed to support four modes at 0.9, 2.4, 5.2 GHz.
LITERATURE SURVEY
In the existing system patch antenna was designed with
operating only specific applications can be carried out with this
frequency range. This design is not suitable for supporting the
frequency ranges starting from 900MHz.Because this has more
difficulties with dimensions, substrate and all other parameters
of patch antenna. We should make that patch antenna with high
directivity, gain improving radiation patterns and
characteristics of patch antenna.
Microstrips are printed circuits operating in the microwave
range, over the gigahertz region of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Realized by the photolithographic process, they let
designers reduce the size, [19] weight, and cost of components
and systems for low signal-level applications by replacing the
more cumbersome wave-guide components and assemblies.
The fabrication process is well suited for series production of
circuits and antennas, since lumped circuit and active devices
can easily be combined with sections of transmission line. At
microwave frequencies, all dimensions become important, so
the realization of microstrips requires more care than that of
low-frequency printed circuits.
Microstrip lines were first proposed in 1952 and were
increasingly used in the late 1960s and 1970s to realize circuits,
generally called microwave integrated circuits (MICs) since
radiation leakage is most unwanted in circuits, particular care
was taken to avoid it, even though its possible application to
design antennas had already been suggested in 1953.
Microstrip antennas appeared as a by-product of microstrip
JGRCS 2010, All Rights Reserved
circuits, which by then had become a mature technology. Their
design and realization took advantage of the techniques
developed for microstrip circuits and used microstrip circuit
substrates.
Figure 1. Microstrip Patch Antenna
The rectangular microstrip patch has been extensively studied
on. Much material can be found in published literature. The
patch is frequently analyzed using the transmission line model
and the cavity model. This chapter details the study of the
various models used in the analysis of microstrip antennas, and
presents the main characteristics and assumptions made in the
use of the cavity model to analyze the rectangular patch.
By analogy, the microstrip antenna [7] may be seen as an open
circuit element where radiation is caused by the fringing fields
at the open circuit ends of the element. This thus allows for far
field radiated wave propagation. The conducting patch may be
of any arbitrary shape depending on the desired radiation
characteristics. This conducting patch is spaced a small fraction
of the dielectric wavelength above a conducting ground plane.
The patch and the conducting ground plane sandwiched the
dielectric substrate. Typically, a microstrip is considered thin if
the dielectric height (h) is much smaller than the dielectric
wavelength. This parallel configuration of the two conductors
resembles that of a capacitor with fringing fields. For a
rectangular patch excited in the dominant mode, the field
variation along the patch length is about half of the dielectric
wavelength with fringing fields at the edges of the patch length.
A microstrip or patch antenna is a low profile antenna that has
a number of advantages over other antennas it is lightweight,
inexpensive, and easy to integrate with accompanying
electronics. While the antenna can be 3D in structure (wrapped
around an object, for example), the elements are usually flat;
hence their other name, planar antennas. Note that a planar
antenna is not always patch antenna. The following drawing
shows a patch antenna in its basic form: a flat plate over a
ground plane (usually a PC board). The center conductor of a
coax serves as the feed probe to couple electromagnetic energy
in and/or out of the patch. The electric field distribution of a
rectangular patch excited in its fundamental mode is also
indicated.
The electric field is zero at the center of the patch, maximum
(positive) at one side, and minimum (negative) on the opposite
side. It should be mentioned that the minimum and maximum
continuously change side according to the instantaneous phase
of the applied signal. The electric field does not stop abruptly
at the patch's periphery as in a cavity; rather, the fields extend
the outer periphery to some degree. These field extensions are
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 K.S.Tamilselvan et al, Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 3 (11), November 2012, 9-15

known as fringing fields and cause the patch to radiate. Some
popular analytic modeling techniques for patch antennas are
based on this leaky cavity concept. Therefore, the fundamental
mode of a rectangular patch is often denoted using cavity
theory as the TM10 mode. Since this notation frequently causes
confusion, we will briefly explain it. TM stands for transversal
magnetic field distribution. This means that only three field
components are considered instead of six. The field
components of interest are: the electric field in the z direction,
and the magnetic field components in x and y direction using a
Cartesian coordinate system, where the x and y axes are
parallel with the ground plane and the z axis is perpendicular.
In general, the modes are designated as TMnm. The z value is
mostly omitted since the electric field variation is considered
negligible in the z axis. Hence TMnm remains with n and m
the field variations in x and y direction. The field variation in
the y direction (impedance width direction) is negligible; Thus
m is 0. And the field has one minimum to maximum variation
in the x direction (resonance length direction); thus n is 1 in the
case of the fundamental.
reff = Effective dielectric constant
r=Dielectric constant of substrate
h = Height of dielectric substrate
W = Width of the patch
The length L of the patch is usually 0 .3333 o < L < 0.5 o,
where 0 is the free-space wavelength. The patch is selected to
be very thin such that t <<0 (where t is the patch thickness).
The height h of the dielectric substrate is usually0 .003 o < h <
0.05 o. The dielectric constant of the substrate ( r) is typically
in the range 2.2 r 12.
Patch with two U slots:
This antenna consists of a rectangular patch [16] with two u
slots. It supports the operation at two bands centered at 2.1
GHz and 5.4 GHz. The integrated approach for a patch with a
single U- slot to support the operation. The center frequencies
of these bands are controlled by the electrical length of these
slots.

COMPACT MULTIBAND MICROSTRIP PATCH

ANTENNAS DESIGN

We are proposing that compact multiband microstrip patch

antenna to design the important wireless applications lie in the
band starting from 900 MHz to 5.5 GHz which includes the
GSM (880-960) GPS (1568-1592 MHz), DCS (1710-1880
MHz), and PCS (1850-1990 MHz). UMTS (1920-2170 MHz),
IEEE 802.11 b/g (2400-2484) and WLAN IEEE802.11a bands
(5.15-5.35 GHz, 5.725-5.825 GHz). [1] [5].

Microstrip patch antennas are commonly used in mobile
communications terminals due to their many attractive features,
such as simple structure, low production cost, light weight, and
robustness. Dual-frequency antenna [12] elements are required,
as todays standard mobile terminals operate in two frequency
bands, e.g. SM900/GSM1800 in Europe. It is desirable to have
more universal phones that operate in multiple systems around
the world, but the inherently narrow impedance bandwidth of
patch antennas combined with the restricted volume for the
antenna element limit their applicability in multiband phones.
Figure 2. Patch with two U slots
E-Shape and U-Shape Patch:
This E-Shape and U-Shape Patch [1] microstrip patch antenna
has been designed with over all dimensions 35mm x 40mm and
height of 1.5mm.it supports for a dual band operation at
4.7Ghz and 5.4Ghz.

(1)

(2)

(3)

Figure 3. E-Shape and U-Shape Patc

(4)
Where

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 K.S.Tamilselvan et al, Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 3 (11), November 2012, 9-15
Rectangular Fractal Antenna:
This Fractal Antenna [1] supports a frequency range of 4.3-
9.9GHz.Fractals are classes of shapes which do not have
characteristic size. Each fractal is designed by carrying out
different iterations. It supports wide range of applications.
Figure 4. Rectangular Fractal Antenna
Multi-Standard Patch antenna:
New Multi Standard Patch Antenna [11], [13]
GSM/PCS/UMTS /HIPERLAN for Mobile Cellular Phones is
designed with a length of 50mm and width of 35mm so that
separate are not required to support many applications in a
single unit.
Figure 5. Multi-Standard Patch antenna
Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch:
This is a small wideband microstrip patch [6] antenna.The
antenna is designed to function in the 5-6Ghz wireless bands.It
achieves multi-band functionality through the addition of a slot
to a square patch (21mm x 21mm x 2.6mm)
JGRCS 2010, All Rights Reserved
Figure 6. Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch
METHODOLOGY USED
Steps of the antenna building process:
a. Shape of the antenna is printed (with 1:1 scale) on a
copy transparency.
b. A plate of substrate with appropriate dimensions is
provided and carefully cleaned.
c. One side of the plate is coated with a photo sensitive
lacquer (Positiv 20).
d. It is allowed to dry (20 0 C = 24hours, 700 C =
15 min.) in a dark place. In this design coated plate
is allowed for 2 hours to dry in room temperature.
e. The transparency carrying the mask is placed on
the board and it is exposed to high UV light for 2
minutes.
f. Board is developed using 7gr NaOH in 1 liter water.
g. Opposite side of the board is covered using nail
polish to prevent the ground layer from dissolving
in next step.
h. As the last step, the antenna is developed in a
solution consisting of 770ml H2 O, 200ml HCL
and 30ml H2 O2
i. At the end of the process, both sides of the antenna
are cleaned using acetone to remove the remains of
the coating on the front side and the nail polish on the
back..
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Readings are taken for each 10 degrees and draw the radiation
pattern for respective values. Analyze the different radiation
value and plot the radiation, patterns for respective values.
Gain, bandwidth and efficiency will be calculated. Improving
performance of patch antenna by changing the substrate
material height and use the different type of dielectric
materials. Impacts of changing the parameters and analyze the
design parameters what happens inside the patch antenna
design. The proposed antenna was fabricated and
experimentally tested. Then using Datascene software radiation
pattern was drawn for each antenna.
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 K.S.Tamilselvan et al, Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 3 (11), November 2012, 9-15

Gain= (Maximum Power Radiated by Test Antenna / Gain= 3.04

Maximum Power Radiated by Isotropic Antenna) Directivity= 3.6
Rectangular Fractal Antenna:
Directivity= (Maximum Power Radiated by Test Antenna /
Average Power Radiated by Isotropic Antenna)
Patch with two Uslots:

Figure 9. Radiation Pattern of Rectangular Fractal Antenna

Gain= 2.91
Directivity= 3.52
Figure 7. Radiation Pattern of Patch with two Uslots

Gain=2.86 Multi-Standard Patch Antenna:

Directivity= 3.47
E-shape patch and U-shape Patch:

Figure 10. Radiation Pattern of Multi-Standard Patch Antenna

Gain= 2.91
Figure 8. Radiation Pattern of E-shape patch and U-shape Patch Directivity= 3.52

JGRCS 2010, All Rights Reserved 13

 K.S.Tamilselvan et al, Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 3 (11), November 2012, 9-15
Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch:
Figure 11. Radiation Pattern of Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch
Gain= 2.95
Directivity=3.57
CONCLUSION
Microstrip antennas have become a rapidly growing area of
research. Their potential applications are limitless, because of
their light weight, compact size, and ease of manufacturing.
One limitation is their inherently narrow bandwidth. However,
recent studies and experiments have found ways of overcoming
this obstacle. Compact Multiband Microstrip Patch Antennas
was designed and readings were obtained using particular
frequency. Then using Datascene software radiation pattern
was drawn for each antenna and observed manually too.
Parameters like Gain and Directivity is calculated for each
antennas. The antenna support multiband operation. A multi
band antenna suitable for applications like mobile phones and
WLAN has been presented. This will cover wide bands of
operation. This antenna can be applied to a multiband wireless
communication system due to its small size and low fabrication
cost. We are currently implementing the design and
experimental data will be shown for comparison with the
design data. The antenna gain and radiation pattern are
acceptable at almost all bands of operation. Simulations and
measurements comparison shows good agreement.
In future work we should make the Microstrip Patch antenna of
reduced size. The reason for reducing size is ability to
compatible with any kind of devices.
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